Understanding the Sales Force

  • How to Write a Sales Email That Works

    • January 3, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I receive so many unsolicited emails each day that it makes my head spin.  Most of them, like the cold calls I get, are simply horrible.  Delete.  Delete.  Delete.  Junk.  Block.  Unsubscribe.

    This week I received the daily double – a cold call with an identical, corresponding email.  The email read like this:

    Hi Dave, 

    I hope this message finds you well.

    We spoke in the past regarding the copier equipment in your office.  At the time you indicated that your existing contract will be ending just over a year from now.  Have you started to look into this yet?  Our company would love a shot to earn your business.

    I’ll go through this line by line and explain what’s horrible, what’s OK and how I would change it.

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  • 3 Lessons that Apply to Every Sales Call No Matter What You Sell

    • December 18, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Several years ago, during one of the performances, it dawned on me that the orchestra’s role in the show correlated very nicely to an effective sales presentation.  There were 3 fantastic lessons that I presented then and as I have done each year since, will present again here.

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  • 14 Sales Topics That Readers Cared About Most in 2017

    • December 14, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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  • More Fake News in Sales Organizations Than on TV Networks!

    • December 13, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Most of your salespeople are just like fake news and I will prove it.  I’m not talking about the elite top 5% or the next group of 15% who are very strong.  I am referring to the bottom 46% of the sales population who, if I am to be completely honest, totally suck. If yours is like most companies, then half of its salespeople fit this description.

    I’m going to show you exactly how your salespeople report fake news but first, we need to break down how fake news happens so that I can demonstrate how your weak salespeople do the exact same thing, every chance they can get.

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  • The Perfect Day for a Salesperson – 10 Ways to be More Efficient and Effective in 2018

    • December 8, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You can be more effective and more efficient selling in 2018, do every single thing I wrote about in this article, exactly as I wrote it, and without any difficulty, by making a conscious decision to follow this blueprint.  It’s not hard. It’s not scary.  It’s not unusual.  It’s not even thought-provoking.  It’s simply a list of best practices that great salespeople (top 5%) do and that crappy (46%) salespeople either don’t do consistently or don’t do it at all.

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  • Which is Worse – Crappy Salespeople or Crappy Sales Managers?

    • December 6, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In his book, The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki said, “Don’t Worry, Be Crappy.”

    That advice suggested that companies just get their early versions of software and tech products out there and they could make them better later.  

    How are early versions of technology different from crappy salespeople and crappy sales managers?  For one thing, salespeople and sales managers tend to stay crappy unless professional training, coaching and interventions occur.  And unlike products, user feedback tends to be sketchy when it comes to salespeople because they refrain from giving it.  But what would happen if they did?

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  • B2B Salespeople Send 16,000+ Unqualified Proposals Each Day!

    • November 30, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If you have a role in sales or sales leadership then what could be better than knowing exactly how you and/or your salespeople REALLY compare with the other salespeople in your industry or in the world?  Could anything be more fascinating than a visual or infographic depicting how effective your sales force is at various aspects of selling?  And what if these visuals could demonstrate that B2B salespeople create and send more than 16,000 inappropriately timed proposals each day?  Cool, huh?  More on that data in a minute.

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  • 5 Keys to Get Prospects to Trust You and Then Buy From You

    • November 27, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    For most of 2017 those of us in the US have been inundated with political news.  That means lots of talking points (or spin) and of course talking points and selling go hand and hand, right? 

    Maybe. 

    While catching up with the latest news during the Thanksgiving break, I heard talking points from both sides of the political spectrum. I was very disturbed with the lack of facts in those talking points.  First we’ll discuss the lack of facts and then we’ll discuss how to make sure your talking points hit home with your prospects.

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  • How Companies Routinely Short Change Their Own Sales Force

    • November 10, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Early on, their salespeople succeeded at selling to the low hanging fruit – the people that raised their hands because they needed or wanted the product.  When the salespeople run out of low hanging fruit, sales stall as they struggle to convert prospects who see the product as nice to have, but not must have. That’s when most companies change gears and begin to innovate and invest in their product when in fact, they really need to innovate and invest in their sales force.

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  • Increase Odds of Successful Sales Hire by 368%

    • November 6, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A Harvard Business Review study proved that using pre-employment assessments increased the probability of a successful hire from 13% to 72%.

    I read that exact statement in a marketing promo for a search company and as they hoped, it got my attention. I thought the premise would make for a good article. I began by searching Google for the source of that quote and low and behold, I couldn’t locate it. I can’t say for sure that the study doesn’t exist or the percentages aren’t correct but I could not find a single thing that correlated to that quote.

    Of course it makes sense that no such statistic exists

    because with assessments making that much of a difference, it would be a no-brainer for every company to use them and on what planet are the chances of success only 13%?

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